Best of Enemies May Be the Most Powerful Theater
Experience That You'll Have This Year -- or Ever

The Justice Theater Project's current production of Best of Enemies may be the most powerful theater experience that you will have this year -- or ever. And yet, its biggest impact may be its timeliness.

I'll start by wholeheartedly recommending this jarring play, written by Mark St. Germain, based on the 1996 nonfiction book, The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South by Osha Gray Davidson. I am recommending Best of Enemies for many reasons.

First, it is extremely well acted and presented. The cast of four is wonderful. Brian Yandle does an amazing and frighteningly realistic performance as C.P. Ellis. Ellis was a leader in the Ku Klux Klan and I can only imagine the added difficulty in playing a vile character so different from yourself. The play opens with Ellis (Yandle) striding to a podium in full KKK regalia and spewing hate that was quite honestly, possibly worse than I have ever heard.

J. Ra'Chel Fowler plays Ann Atwater, an African-American activist and supporter of the Civil Rights Movement. Atwater is not portrayed as an angel to Ellis' devil, rather a counterpoint filled with a kind of her own hate. The two diametrically opposed characters are brought together in 1971 in Durham, NC, a racially polarized city moving glacially to follow the new Civil Rights laws requiring racial equality in education.

Bill Riddick (played by DJ Brinson), a representative from the N.C. Department of Education, and a black North Carolinian, comes to Durham to form a charrette, a meeting of stakeholders, to attempt to accelerate the process of change. He brings Ellis and Atwater together to chair this charrette, much to the dismay of both.

Amanda Lee Scherle rounds out the fine cast as C.P. Ellis' wife, Mary. Her character adds a softer perspective and helps her husband see some possible error in his ways.

Best of Enemies is deftly staged by first-time director Yamila Monge. She did a Q&A session prior to the show. She described herself as Afro-Latina and felt this was an important play for people to understand the history of racial conflict, particularly here in the Triangle.

The events depicted took place barely 50 years ago, and many members of the audience experienced similar conflicts in their youth. The Justice Theater Project supplements their shows with additional opportunities for learning. Friday, Feb. 10th's, opening-night performance included a Meet-the-Director segment an hour prior to showtime. There are two additional discussions scheduled relating to the themes of the play. (Click here and scroll down for details.)

JTP artistic director Jerry Sipp, who serves as set designer for this show, led a crew of over a dozen to create a very effective space, with no seats in the audience being more than 20 feet from the action. Sally Beale Hatlem's costume design is also effective in depicting the era as well as the social and financial status of the characters.

The play runs for about 90 minutes and never drags. There is no intermission. I was pleased to find a fair amount of humor interspersed throughout the show. There was a homespun Southern charm in the characters that flowed nicely within the heavy drama and pathos. There are no real winners in this play, but there are some powerful messages about forgiveness and the ability to change.

The second reason to recommend this play is the incredible timeliness of the story. Ten years ago, this might have been a nice slice of a different time; but I read half a dozen news stories just this week that indicate that in many ways, the themes discussed in this play are as relevant and frightening today as they were then.

At a couple of points, the sound of Jesse Helms, who would soon begin serving 30 years as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina, is heard spewing vilely racist venom, which should be laughable today. Sadly, there are equally as horrible people in the highest levels of our government today. Two students were shot at the very middle school depicted in the play on the morning of opening night.

This show is not recommended for children under age 14, and will be pretty shocking for those under 18. There is an extreme amount of hurtful language and racial invective. However, I cannot stress enough the importance of young people experiencing this show. This is an opportunity for young people to learn about the world that their parents and grandparents experienced growing up. This is particularly important as these historical events are being removed from school curricula at an alarming rate.

Some of the performances are already sold out, but opportunities to see this important show still exist. Please go with family members from a different generation than yourself. It will spur much discussion and possibly bring you closer together.

THE CAST FOR "BEST OF ENEMIES"
Brian Yandle plays C.P. Ellis	J. Ra'Chel Fowler portrays Ann Atwater	DJ Brinson plays Bill Riddick	Amanda Lee Scherle portrays Mary Ellis

Mark St. Germain's BEST OF ENEMIES (In Person at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 11, 12, 17-19, and 24-26), based on The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South by Osha Gray Davidson and directed by Yamila Monge and starring Brian Yandle as C.P. Ellis, J. Ra'Chel Fowler as Ann Atwater, DJ Brinson as Bill Riddick, and Amanda Lee Scherle as Mary Ellis (The Justice Theater Project at the Umstead Park United Church of Christ in Raleigh). SPECIAL EVENTS (scroll down): http://www.thejusticetheaterproject.org/best-of-enemies. 2022-23 SEASON: http://www.thejusticetheaterproject.org/2223-season-rising-like-a-phoenix. THE PRESENTER: https://www.thejusticetheaterproject.org/, https://www.facebook.com/Justicetheater, https://www.instagram.com/justicetheaterproject/, https://twitter.com/justicetproject, and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNGoYepGz-n99gOyTAj7QTg/videos?view=0&sort=p. THE VENUE: https://www.upucc.org/, https://www.facebook.com/UmsteadParkUCC, https://www.instagram.com/umsteadparkucc/, https://twitter.com/UPUCC, and https://www.youtube.com/user/upucc/featured. DIRECTIONS/MAP: https://www.upucc.org/contact. UPUCC COVID-19 POLICY (scroll down): https://www.upucc.org/. BEST OF ENEMIES: https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=4802. THE SCRIPT (excerpts): https://www.dramatists.com/previews/4802.pdf and https://books.google.com/books. MARK ST. GERMAIN: http://www.iobdb.com/CreditableEntity/5900, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1059505/, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_St._Germain. NOTE 1: This play contains adult language and content and is recommended for theatergoers age 14 and up. NOTE 2: Arts Access, Inc. of Raleigh will audio-describe the show's 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19th, performance. TICKETS: $23 ($5 students and educators, $18 cast members, and $20 seniors 60+ and active-duty military personnel), except $18 per person for groups of 10 or more, plus taxes and fees. Click here to buy tickets. INFORMATION: 919-264-7089 or thejusticetheaterproject@gmail.com. PLEASE DONATE TO: The Justice Theater Project.

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